


Lipstick

by oceantears



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A little bit of angst, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Bucky wearing makeup, Fluff, Fluffy, Friendship, Insecure Bucky Barnes, Insecure Steve Rogers, Insecurity, Lipstick, M/M, Makeup, Men wearing makeup, Misunderstandings, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, date, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 12:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15340194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceantears/pseuds/oceantears
Summary: There was a guy staring at him.Normally Bucky didn’t mind being looked at, most of the time it was fine and didn’t bother him, but not today, notnow.Not when he was doing his makeup.





	Lipstick

**Author's Note:**

> _Written by me._  
>  Hi! This is my first work in this fandom, please be kind :) English isn't my first language, please point out any mistakes and I'll gladly fix them!  
> I personally am all for people expressing themselves in any (non-harmful) way they want and if a guy wants to wear makeup, go ahead! It can look incredibly stunning, just like on anyone else!!  
> This was originally intended to be a short thing, Aabout 600 words. It is still short, but now nearly 2000 words long, so yeah. Sorry?  
> Yeah, that was my little rant, enjoy!  
> If you liked it, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! <3

There was a guy staring at him.

Normally Bucky didn’t mind being looked at, most of the time it was fine and didn’t bother him, but not today, not _now._ Not when he was doing his makeup.

 

Natasha, who was sitting opposite him in the busy school cafeteria, frowned when she heard Bucky’s exasperated sigh. She shot him a questioning look, unaware of the bulky looking boy behind her, three tables away from theirs, the boy who had been watching Bucky for the last ten minutes or so.

Bucky sighed once again. It was not his fault that his alarm hadn’t worked today, okay? Because of that he had gotten up late, had hurriedly put clothes on, eaten half an apple and had headed out of his apartment in a hurry, without having the time he usually needed in the morning to apply his makeup. Therefore he was now sitting in the busy cafeteria, after three hours of feeling naked without the comfort which wearing makeup usually gave him, now applying it a bit hastily because the bell would soon ring and there was _no way_ he’d be late to class again. That had already happened one too many times this week.

And because Bucky was in a bit of a haste and generally not particularly fond of doing his makeup while other people could be watching him, he was even more bothered by the set of piercing blue eyes staring at him, watching his every move as he tried to apply eye shadow as good as possible.

“It’s nothing”, he gave Nat as an answer to her raised eyebrows. But because it was Nat, his best friend and someone who couldn’t let a thing go, when her friends were concerned, she merely kicked him lightly under the table and said “It’s not nothing, Barnes, you’ve been glancing behind my back for the last ten minutes. And I’ve never seen you with such an upset face while doing makeup of all things.”  
Bucky shot her an annoyed look. She was right, of course she was, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t be annoyed because of it. He just wished that Natasha wouldn’t smile so incredibly smugly when he opened his mouth to tell her while setting the eye shadow aside and grabbing the eyeliner. 

“There’s a guy who’s staring at me. He’s been doing so for the last few minutes and I don’t even know why, but it just makes me a bit uneasy. I don’t like being stared at while I’m doing my makeup.” He shrugged and saw Nat’s expression hardening. He knew exactly what she was thinking –it was the same thought that had wandered through this mind for the past ten minutes. Was the guy judging him for wearing makeup, did he think that Bucky would make an easy target to bully? Because if so, he was severely mistaken.  
While Bucky wasn’t fond of _applying_ makeup in public, it didn’t mean that he didn’t like wearing it or felt uncomfortable with it. If he had, what would’ve been the point in wearing it in the first place? 

It had taken him some time and support from his friends to become used to and comfortable with wearing makeup in public, but he had managed. Bucky had done his makeup in the privacy and comfort of his own home for years but had never really dared to wear it outside out of fear what others might think, until Nat had convinced him that it was perfectly fine for a guy to wear eye shadow, lipstick and eyeliner in public. The fact that she was more than ready to kick anyone’s ass who dared to say anything to Bucky about the makeup had also helped a lot.

And since he had started wearing it to school at the beginning of the year – now a little more than four months ago – he had also started to feel more comfortable in his skin. And usually he ignored the weird looks he sometimes got or bit back top any weird comments he encountered. But this? This was an entirely different situation.

 

This guy had been staring for minutes now, eating next to nothing in favour of watching Buck and it unnerved him a bit. What most certainly didn’t help was that Bucky knew who the other was, that he even _liked_ the blonde. Not that it mattered now.  
“Is he laughing or anything?”, asked Nat, voice a little sharp. She didn’t react well to Bucky being judged for doing what he liked to do, and he was sure that if he had wanted her to, she would have went over to the blonde’s table and given him a piece of her mind. But Bucky didn’t want her to do that, for various reasons, so he only said “No, he’s not really doing anything at all, just watching me. For all I know he could have spaced out minutes ago and not even concentrate on my face right now.” He shrugged. “Anyway, it does bother me a bit, but it’s fine as long as he doesn’t say anything. Besides, it will ring in a few minutes, we better get going.”

Nat still looked a bit wary but nodded anyways and took both of their trash to the bin while Bucky applied red lipstick, carefully avoiding the look of the blonde.

 

The worst thing wasn’t even the staring, he had learnt to deal with that, but the fact that it was _him_ who stared. It was Steve Rogers, a boy in Bucky’s gym and art class, in both of which Steve excelled at.

And also, it was the boy that Bucky had been crushing on for most of the school year. He had just seemed so kind and genuine and sometimes, despite his massive built and the obvious muscles he had, downright adorable, especially when he was drawing, all concentrated with his lip just poking out of his mouth, eyes narrowed in concentration, shoulders hunched. Bucky hadn’t even talked to him in the four months he had shared classes with Steve, but he had still managed to get a crush on him. Steve seemed sweet and funny, sarcastic and pretty non-judgmental but maybe Bucky had been wrong about that. The other boy certainly hadn’t seemed fazed by Bucky’s makeup, which he had been wearing for the majority of the year, but maybe he just hadn’t noticed until now? Maybe he was a prick after all?

 

Bucky shook his head and stood up, going over to Nat who was waiting at the door that led to the rest of the school. It wasn’t worth dwelling on. If the other boy didn’t understand why Bucky wore makeup or if he was bothered by it, it wasn’t Bucky’s problem. And if Steve decided to be a jerk about it, well then he could handle it later.

 

 

As it turned out, Steve seemed to have decided to be a jerk about it.

 

Bucky sighed inwardly – once again – and slammed the door to his locker shut. His last period had just ended and he was tired and ready to go home.  
Nat had left an hour earlier because her gym teacher was ill, saying that she’d see him tomorrow and that left Bucky alone to deal with the massive boy that was coming in his direction. Not that he couldn’t stand up for himself; he just preferred not to be alone with potential bullies that were easily twice his height and weight.  
Bucky leaned at his locker, aiming for an open look as Steve came to halt in front of him. It could still be that the other boy had been merely fascinated by Bucky or something and wasn’t looking for trouble.

 

But of course, Bucky’s hopes were crushed when Steve opened his mouth.

 

“I saw you apply makeup at lunch, why did you do that?” were the words that came from the blonde, and for a good few seconds Bucky could do nothing but stare at him.

Then he half turned away, shouldering his back pack, missing the way Steve slightly shifted his weight on his feet with a small blush on his face. “You know if you’re just gonna give me shit for doing what I fucking want to do, then you can just fuck off right now.” Bucky said airily and started walking to the huge door at the end of the corridor. 

 

“What no!”, Bucky heard Steve say and he startled a bit when he felt the other’s hand gently close around his arm. “No, that’s not what I meant.” rushed the blonde out, turning so that he faced Bucky. He smiled a little, apologetically. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as rude. I merely wondered how you got that good at makeup and wanted to maybe, uh, compliment you.” He shrugged, rubbing his hand awkwardly over his neck while avoiding Bucky’s eyes.  
Bucky himself couldn’t do much but stare at Steve in wonder. That was . . . not what he expected. He had expected some form of rude comment, maybe a sneer or something, but not an almost-compliment and interest in his makeup skills.  
He pulled himself together when Steve averted his eyes and let go of his arm, clearly intending to leave.

“Uh no, it’s fine”, Bucky rushed to say. “I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you were gonna mock me for wearing makeup or something like that, after you stared at me all lunch break.”

Now Steve flushed red, crimson spreading over his face and ears. “Ah yeah, I wasn’t. . . I didn’t mean to come off as creepy or anything, I’m sorry. I was just fascinated by your makeup, it looks very, uh, good on you.” His gaze swept over Bucky’s face, lingering a bit on the dark red lipstick he had put on. Steve smiled a little, still red. “Especially that lipstick looks fantastic. The colour suits you, you know.”

 

Now Bucky smiled, ducking his head. “Thanks. I’m sorry that I was rude I was just kind of fearing the worst, you know? Not many guys have complimented my makeup.” He shrugged, grinning a little at Steve who looked impossibly small for his massive build, shoulders hunched. “It’s fine”, he said. “I’ll just kind of go? Said everything I wanted to say to you. Yeah. You look great.” Bucky’s grin got a little broader, and he touched Steve’s arm to keep him from leaving.

“It’s fine. Ah, would you maybe like to go grab a coffee? I don’t have anything to do right now, so if you’re free?” When Steve looked up, obviously surprised, he added “I kind of want to apologise for behaving like a dick. And you seem really nice, so if you want, I’d invite you on a coffee. I know a really good place nearby.” Steve nodded a bit hesitantly, but smiling. “Sure, I’d like to. But you don’t have to pay, y’know?”

 

Bucky merely shrugged, shouldering his backpack once more. “I’d like to. And if you want I could tell you a bit about my makeup and when I started to do it.” Steve perked up at that, seemingly interested and gave Bucky a smile. “I’d love to hear that.”  
“Let’s go then” answered Bucky, walking towards the doors, a huge smile stretched over his dark red lips. “Maybe I’ll even let you borrow my lipstick.” he grinned.

 

Steve’s answering happy laugh only made his smile even bigger.


End file.
